M&M Surprise Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 17 Read online

  “I wanted to talk to you about your husband, actually. If that’s okay.”

  “What are you, a cop?” Lori asked. “Because I won’t talk to cops without my lawyer present. He’s driving in from Dallas. You’ll have to wait.” She adjusted the straps on her handbag.

  “I’m not an officer,” Heather said. “I just make it a habit of researching these cases. I like to help people.”

  “Aint that cute,” Lori said, then sneered.

  The smile finally slipped from Heather’s lips.

  “Look, I don’t know what yo tell you. Kyle and I didn’t exactly have the perfect marriage. He loved his sports more than he loved spending time with me.” Lori shrugged, and finally broke eye contact. She glanced at Amy and Dave, then back to Heather again.

  “Did Kyle bring any arrows for the competition?” Heather asked. She tucked her arms behind her back and clasped her hands together.

  Rudeness didn’t sit well with her.

  “Arrows? No. He was the judge. He didn’t need arrows,” Lori replied. “Are you done yet? I have an appointment at the spa.”

  Dave growled low in his throat then let out a high-pitched bark. Amy shushed him and clicked her tongue.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Henson –”

  “You don’t need to call me that. Call me Lori. Hearing his name instead of mine gives me the creeps,” Lori said, then mock-shivered.

  “Why?” Heather asked.

  “Because he was having an affair,” she replied, loudly.

  Lucy the Cosmo girl flinched and dropped her magazine.

  “Oh,” Heather said. Well, that was awkward. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Don’t be. I came to terms with it years ago. I’ll give you a hint, Mrs. Shepherd, since you’re into researching as you put it. You want to find my husband’s killer? Talk to that floozy Jessica Laverne. She’ll tell you what you need to know.”

  “Thank you for your time,” Heather replied.

  Lori rolled her eyes and pushed past her, then turned and disappeared down the hall, swaying her luxurious hair to and fro.

  “Wow. Gotta love these tourists,” Amy said.

  Heather sucked in a breath. Her mind whirred and clicked, sleuthin’ thoughts dissecting themselves over and over. Jessica Laverne, huh? What did the lead competitor in the archery competition have to do with the head judge?

  “C’mon, Ames, let’s get back to the store. We’ve got some work to do.”

  Chapter 4

  “This way guys!” Heather called and beckoned to her staff.

  They bundled out of the back of Ken’s old van, Donut Delights boxes stacked in their arms.

  “I can’t see,” Maricela said.

  “I’ll take some of your boxes,” Ken replied. He shut the car door, locked it, then hurried to Maricela and took three large boxes from her arms. He held them against his stomach and chest, grinning at her over them.

  She blushed slightly, cleared her throat, then looked away.

  “We’re going to drop them at reception, and then we’ll head back to the store and get started on those online orders.”

  “This is like a field trip,” Jung said – the fact that he wasn’t a suspect in this case had helped his disposition, a lot. He grinned at Heather’s other assistants, then shifted the boxes in his arms.

  Amy jostled around the back of the van, wrestling four donut boxes into place. “If field trips take you to retirement homes, then yeah, I guess so,” she said.

  The grounds at Hillside Manor sprawled behind them, grass greener than emeralds. A central fountain tinkled water into a shallow pool, and the drive twisted past it and stopped in front of the grand stairs which led to the lobby.

  They’d decided to donate the leftover donuts they’d made for the competition to the elderly folks up here.

  “This place is gorgeous,” Ken said.

  “Better than abuelito’s house.” Angelica stood beside her cousin, Maricela, grasping her donut boxes and staring up at the manor.

  They walked up the path together, and Heather dropped back to Jung’s position at the back of the group. She took a few boxes from him, then matched his pace.

  “How are you feeling?” Heather asked. “About the competition being canceled, I mean.”

  “It’s only postponed, for now,” Jung replied, but a frown crept across his forehead. “Right?”

  “I hope so. I’d really like to watch you shoot,” Heather said. “Is shoot the right word for it, when it’s arrows? Archery?”

  “I guess so.”

  They fell into silence, surrounded by the twitter of birds in the trees and Amy’s laughter at the head of the group.

  “Jung, I need to ask you a few questions. Would that be okay?” Heather asked, at last. Thoughts of Jinx Laverne and Lori Henson swirled through her mind. What did Lori have to hide?

  Hating her husband hardly seemed like a good tactic right after he’d been murdered.

  “Anything for you, boss,” Jung replied.

  “What do you know about Jessica Laverne?” Heather asked.

  “Jinx? She’s the favorite to win in the competition if it ever happens.” Jung snorted. “She’s sweet and everything, but there’s something I don’t like about her. It’s like the niceness is an act. Maybe I’m a little jealous.”

  “Do you know what type of arrows she uses?” Heather asked. It was a stretch, but Kyle had been shot with a carbon arrow.

  “Uh, I think graphite? It’s better than the aluminum kind I use, but then, she can afford it. There was a rumor that she was going to get into the Olympics, once, but then something went wrong, and it never happened.” They stopped in front of the stairs.

  The others hurried through the big, wooden front door ahead of them.

  “What happened?”

  “Well, Jinx was being coached by Kyle at the time, then all of a sudden she just quit. Or he fired her. No one knows what happened, but her hopes for being in the Olympics kind of dropped off after that.” Jung shifted the boxes, then glanced back at Ken’s van in the distance.

  Heather crunched gravel underfoot. “Wow, so Kyle was Jessica’s coach?”

  “Yeah, but that was ages ago. Years and years, when she was still in Hillside High, and he was the head coach there. He disappeared after that too. He just left town and never came back.” Jung sighed. “I got a couple of good years of coaching from him before he left, at least.”

  Heather turned the facts over in her mind. Jessica Laverne had been coached by the head judge of the competition. Shouldn’t there have been a rule against that? Perhaps not.

  What if Jinx had been bitter about missing out on her shot at the Olympics and had taken it out on Kyle. Surely, no one held onto a grudge for that long, though.

  “Do you know what happened between them? Kyle and Jinx, I mean.”

  “Not really. I just know that one second she was the golden girl and the next she was off the team and out of the limelight. Her parents kicked up a fuss too.” Jung bent and placed the donut boxes on the top stair.

  Amy hurried out, collected them, then disappeared inside Hillside Manor again.

  “Any idea who’s Jinx’s new coach?” Heather asked. Perhaps, she could squeeze a little information out of them.

  “Yeah. His name is Coach Hardy. He’s some big shot up in Dallas, but he came down with her for the competition.” Jung laughed. “Weird. All these big time folks coming down to Hillside for our archery competition.”

  Heather turned and put her boxes on the top stair, too. She tapped her chin and stared at them, envisioning targets and arrows. “Weird. Or maybe, somebody had a debt to pay.”

  The assistants piled out of the front doors to collect more donut boxes from the van.

  “And?” Amy asked. “You think you can slack off just because you’re the boss? Shake a leg, woman.”

  Heather swatted her bestie on the arm, then picked up her share of the boxes. She scooted up the front stairs and into the cool interior
of the Manor. Her mind raced alongside her heart.

  Chapter 5

  Heather retied her apron straps and hummed I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. The bangs from next door drowned her out, but it made her throat warm. She inhaled through her nostrils, then hummed the breaths out through her mouth.

  Donut Delights was empty. She didn’t like that, but it was a necessary evil until the construction had ceased, and they could open the new and improved store.

  “All right,” she said and clicked her fingers in time to the drills next door. “We’ve received two orders for donuts today, so far. Three boxes of Strawberry Cremes, and then the second order is for one box of Choc Crunches, two boxes of M&M Surprises, and five boxes of Pistachio Glazed Donuts.” She closed her eyes for a second and brought the image of the email order to the front of her mind. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “That’s not too much,” Ken said.

  “Not like the millions we had to do a couple of weeks ago.” Jung sat down at one of the wrought irons tables, then pressed his palms to his ears. “I need to get earphones.”

  “I won’t need everyone here to help with them, today. Two of you can take the day off.”

  The assistants glanced around and sized up the competition.

  Amy raised her arm. “I’m staying. I’d rather be here, making donuts, than home with my Beaches DVD.”

  “That’s a first,” Heather replied, but winked to show she didn’t mean it.

  “I’ll stay too.” Ken waved from the corner.

  “And me!” Maricela gave two thumbs up.

  “Great,” Heather replied. She pointed to the kitchen doors. “You guys can go through and get started on the batter for the Strawberry Cremes.”

  Amy, Maricela, and Ken filed through the kitchen doors, together, and Heather walked to the front of the store. She winced at the hammering, then swallowed and steeled herself.

  It’d be a long afternoon if she couldn’t get used to the noise.

  She opened the door for Jung and Angelica, waved them off, then closed it and made to lock.

  A hand slapped against the glass, flat against the Donut Delights logo.

  Heather shrieked and grabbed at her throat.

  “Oops! Sorry, Au-Heather, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Lilly said, from the other side of the door. She dropped her arm to her side, then swung it back and forth. “Can I come in? I just wanted to talk.”

  “Sure,” Heather replied. She opened up and held the door for the young girl.

  Lilly waltzed into the store – literally, she’d been taking ballroom dancing lessons at the local youth center – and stopped dead center. “Where is everyone?” She asked.

  The drill started up next door, and she plugged her ears with her fingers.

  Heather closed the front door, then locked it beneath the tinkling bell.

  “Everyone’s in the kitchen,” she yelled. “They’re working on a few online orders. Would you like to help?”

  “Yes please,” Lilly screeched back. The noise dropped off, and her shout echoed through the bakery. “Oops again.” She clapped her hand over her mouth.

  “Great. But no stealing the glaze. If I spot a sticky finger, young lady, I’ll –”

  “I know, I know,” Lilly replied, then wrinkled her nose.

  “Wait a second, aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

  “Heather, it’s a Saturday,” Lilly said and giggled. She raised her arms above her head. “I’m so glad it’s weekend.”

  “Sick of school?”

  “No, I get to spend as little time as possible at the Foster Folks’ house,” Lilly replied. She smoothed her hand over her long dark hair.

  “What? I thought you loved it with them.” Heather’s sleuth sense tingled. “What’s happened?”

  Lilly sighed and dropped her arms again. “Nothing,” she said. “Let’s go make the donuts.”

  “Lilly,” Heather said, and injected a warning tone into her words. “Come on, you know you can tell me anything.”

  “It’s no big deal. It’s just Colleen’s got like a distant cousin or something visiting for the archery competition, and she’s kind of mean.” Lilly flopped down in a wrought iron chair, then drummed her heels on the golden boards. “Elizabeth.” She pulled a face.

  “Elizabeth?”

  “Yeah, she’s irritated about the competition being canceled or whatever. She keeps calling me names and making me get her coffee and stuff.” Lilly balled up her fists in her lap. “I don’t like that.”

  “You need to tell Colleen if she’s bullying you, Lils.”

  “Yeah, what am I going to say? Colleen will probably think I’m silly or something. Elizabeth lied to her the other day and told her I ate the cupcakes she made for dessert and Colleen believed her. I told her I didn’t, but she still punished me. No video games for a week.” Now that Lilly had started, the rant bubbled from her lips. “And she’s even that good at archery stuff anyway. She keeps fiddling with her arrows, but she doesn’t ever use them. Agh, I hate it. Okay, now I’m being mean.”

  Heather walked to the girl, then crouched down in front of her. “Hey, it’s okay. I know this is tough on you.”

  “I don’t know what to do, Heather. I don’t like seeing her. And we all have to sit down at the dinner table together. It just stinks.” Lilly sighed. “I can handle it, though. I’ll be okay.”

  Heather wrapped her arms around Lilly and drew her into a hug. “You’re such a brave person, Lils. But I want you to promise me one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If this Elizabeth woman ever makes you feel uncomfortable or sad, call me. I’m going to speak to Colleen about this anyway, but if she continues…”

  “No, no, please don’t call her. She’s already angry with me for the whole cupcake thing. She’ll probably get madder.” Lilly drew back from the hug and gave Heather a puppy dog eyed expression to rival Dave’s. “Please?”

  Another mystery woman come for the archery competition. Did this Elizabeth have a connection to the deceased judge?

  Heather exhaled, slowly. “All right. But you call me if it happens again. Okay?”

  “Got it,” Lilly replied, then clapped her hands. “Can we go make some donuts now?”

  “You bet!” Heather helped her off the chair, and they walked to the kitchen together.

  Chapter 6

  A lone figure stood behind a mark on the field, bow raised, arrow knocked, focus unbreakable. That was her. The source of every Hillside rumor in the last two days: Jessica ‘Jinx’ Laverne.

  Her long, blond hair hung down her back in a plait. She fired, and the arrow whistled through the air, across the field. It hit the center of the target and splinters flew at the impact.

  “She’s pretty intimidating,” Amy said.

  “She’s in her twenties. I think we’ll be okay,” Heather replied.

  “Yeah, because murderers are always over thirty.”

  Heather sighed and patted Ames on the back. “Point taken.”

  Jinx knocked another arrow, took aim and let loose again. Her eyes blazed determination… or was it anger.

  “Hi,” Heather called out.

  Jinx swung on the spot and brought her bow around.

  “Whoa. We come in peace.” Amy put her hands up and flashed a smile.

  “Relax, she hasn’t got another arrow,” Heather whispered. She strode across the field and stopped in front of the green-eyed woman.

  “Hello,” Jinx said, then grasped her braid and tugged it over her shoulder. “May I help you?”

  “I hope so,” Heather replied. “You’re Jinx, right?”

  “That’s right,” she said, and a smile wavered on her lips.

  “It seems like we’ve come at a bad time.” Heather glanced at the target in the distance, then met the young woman’s gaze again. “I don’t suppose you have time to talk.”

  “I do,” Jinx replied. “My coach hasn’t arrived yet, so I’ve got a few m
inutes to kill. What’s up?”

  “I’m Heather Shepherd. I own the local donut store,” Heather replied, and shook the woman’s free hand. She jerked her head toward her bestie. “And this is Amy. She works with me.”

  “I’m the wits of the operation,” Amy said.

  “Operation?” Jinx frowned and glanced between them. “What do you mean?”

  Here went nothin’. “I’m investigating Kyle Henson’s death. I know that you were close to him at one point and wanted to find out if you knew anything which might be of use to the investigation. Details about his life, that kind of thing.”

  Jinx gestured for Heather to follow, then turned and traipsed across the field, toward the stands.

  Heather and Amy exchanged a quizzical look, then hurried after the archer. They stopped at the base of the stairs.

  Jinx placed her bow on one of the plastic chairs, then sat down beside it. She interlaced her fingers and dropped her hands into her lap. “Kyle,” she said, then shook her head. Tears brimmed at the bottom of her eyelids.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Heather said.

  Jinx choked out a laugh. “No, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve got to talk about it sometime. But, wait, are you a cop or –?”

  “An investigator,” Amy said. “Heather’s pretty well known around Hillside for her investigations.”

  Heather nudged her to get her to quiet down. Jinx didn’t need to know that she’d solved crimes. If the woman had something to do with the murder, it would discourage her from talking.

  “Oh, well, I guess I can talk to you then. You’re better than that other cop who came to see me. Kinda cute, brown hair, really mean, though.”

  “That’s Heather’s –”

  Heather elbowed her bestie in the ribs this time. “So, you had a good relationship with Kyle?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Jessica replied. “We had a great relationship years ago, when I was in High School. He was my coach back then, but I don’t know, he had a meltdown or whatever and he fired me from the team.”